And the Nominees Are: Riz Ahmed Will Join Allison Williams to Announce 2023 Oscar Nominations
- The live announcement of the nominees will take place at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Jan. 24 beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET/5:30 a.m. PT.
Academy Award winner Riz Ahmed will join actress Allison Williams to host the 2023 Oscar nominations on Jan. 24. They will be announced live from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET/5:30 a.m. PT., and will be aired live on “Good Morning America” and streamed live on Goodmorningamerica.com, ABC News Live, Disney+, Oscars.org, Oscar.com and the Academy’s social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The recent winning spree of S.S. Rajamouli’s “RRR” (Roudram, Ranam, Rudiram), has increased anticipation that the film will be nominated for Best Song for “Naatu Naatu” and Best Picture. The Telugu blockbuster recently won Best Foreign Film, and Best Song at Critics Choice Awards. “Naatu Naatu” also won a Golden Globe. The foot-tapping number is composed by M.M. Keeravani, and sung by Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj.
Blumhouse founder Jason Blum has predicted that “RRR” will win this year’s Oscar for Best Picture. “I’m going with ‘RRR’ winning best pic,” he tweeted. “You heard it here first. Mark it down, please. If I’m right, I am awarding myself my own Oscar. It’s RRR time. Don’t miss it. And no I’m not involved in any way. Nor do I know anyone associated with the movie. Just see it.”
Meanwhile, other top contenders for best picture are “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” “The Banshees of Inshirin,” “The Fabelmans,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Elvis.” Those getting awards season buzz in the acting categories include Cate Blanchett for “Tár,” Brendan Fraser for “The Whale,” Tom Cruise for “Top Gun: Maverick,” Michelle Yeoh for “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and Viola Davis in “The Woman King.”
Ahmed won the 2022 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for “The Long Goodbye.” He co-wrote, produced, and stars in the short film where he plays Riz, whose British-Pakistani family encounters far-right marchers with terrible consequences. The 12-minute film shares its name with the 2020 album by Ahmed, which was inspired, in part, by the rise of far-right political groups and anti-immigration rhetoric in the post-Brexit U.K. The film incorporates music from Ahmed’s album. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film, “which culminates in a searing monologue from Ahmed, is a terrifying look at an everyday nightmare for members of certain marginalized communities.”
He recently joined the Pakistani film “Joyland” as an executive producer. The film has been nominated for the best international film at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards and was recently shortlisted for best international feature film at the 95th Academy Awards, as Pakistan’s official entry. The film is described as “a bittersweet tale of repressed desire and the quest for individual freedom.” It follows a patriarchal family as they yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, while their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theater and falls for a trans woman, according to the film’s synopsis. The film explores a whole family, presenting a picture of a clan torn between modernity and tradition in contemporary Lahore.
Some of Ahmed’s future projects include “The Son of Good Fortune” at Amazon along with Lulu Wang. The two will develop and executive produce the comedy series based on the novel of the same name by Lysley Tenorio, about an undocumented Filipino teenager in the Bay area navigating a tumultuous relationship with his former B-movie action star mother, falling in love for the first time, and working out how to pay back a massive debt before his whole life crumbles.
He is also working on a film adaptation of author Mosin Hamid’s best-selling book, “Exit West,” directed by Yann Demange, which is being produced by the Obamas’ production company, Higher Ground Productions, The New York Times reported earlier.
Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the 95th Academy Awards will be telecast live on ABC on March 12, and can also be streamed on ABC.com, Hulu Live TV and YouTubeTV.